From the earliest weeks of life, some infants struggle to settle — crying without consolation, resisting sleep, refusing to feed — and a new longitudinal study suggests these struggles do not simply resolve with time but may inscribe themselves into the very structure of the brain. Researchers following participants from infancy into adulthood found that those who had experienced early regulatory difficulties showed measurably greater folding in the left insula, a region that serves as the brain's interior compass, integrating bodily sensation with conscious experience. This structural differe